FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Following the club’s fourth defeat in its past six games, the mood in Toronto FC’s locker room was anger, yet defiance.

“There’s obviously frustration because we don’t like losing — we’re not ever going to get used to losing, that’s never going to happen, but it’s also understanding that we all have to give more,” said head coach Greg Vanney after Saturday night’s 3-2 loss at New England.

“We all have to be more disciplined, we all have to do our jobs better, we all have to compete better, we all have to start games better. On a very basic level, now guys are coming back, injuries can’t keep being the excuse, we’ve got to find that stability that we expect and it starts with how we compete from the opening whistle.”

Vanney covered a lot of ground there. He’s clearly bothered by his club’s inability to take it to clubs early and pointed to a -9 goal differential in the first 15 minutes of halves so far. New England pounced and was all over TFC from the jump, building a quick 2-0 lead that could well have been three or four-nil.

While captain Michael Bradley said the club has to be better across the board, he admitted that being better early would be hugely beneficial.

“We all know how you start is important, especially with our group, the way that a lot of teams set up to play against us, it’s clear, if we can get the first goal and force them out, even a little bit more, than it will lead to (letting TFC) use space and play through teams and then find openings and attack and make chances for ourselves,” Bradley said.

“That part is always good, but right now, I wouldn’t look at just any one thing (like the starts). Look across the board and say that we’ve all got to find the right ways to raise the level.”

LINEUP TAKES SHAPE

Much of the head-hanging comes from having played a brutal early schedule and having lost so many pivotal players, forcing others to move to positions they aren’t meant for, which creates a chain reaction at both ends of the field.

“There are some things outside of our control that certainly haven’t helped, but the reality is this is where we are right now,” Bradley said.

“We know we have a good team, but, it does us no good to be sitting in here after every game talking about the same things. Obviously this initial part of the season, with Champion’s League and with trying to manage everything was always going to be difficult, but we’re past that now, and so, we’ve got to find the right ways to play ourselves back into things and regain the momentum that we’ve had for the better part of a year-and-a-half or two.”

Major League Soccer’s defending champion began to more closely resemble itself once Chris Mavinga entered the game at his familiar defensive position, allowing Bradley to return to the midfield. Giovinco and Victor Vazquez, the club’s two best play-makers, also were substituted in later in the game and if not for the turf and bad weather, defenders Justin Morrow and Gregory van der Wiel probably would have been out there.

There will be no Giovinco (more on that in a bit) or Jozy Altidore against Orlando on Friday, throwing things into disarray up front, but at least the rest of the lineup is starting to normalize, which should have a big impact moving forward.

“I think we found a little bit of stability in the latter part of the game as we start to slide Chris back there, get a natural centre back there, get Jason (Hernandez) back to his natural side, get Michael sitting in front of the back-line,” Vanney said.

“Our shape started to be better, all of those things started to fall together a little bit more. Hopefully over these next week to two weeks, we’ll start to get more of our group back together and we’ll get guys back in the positions we need to be ‘cause I think that will help to settle some things down and that’s important.”

Vanney said losing balls in the midfield leading to quick counters really hurt TFC at Gillette Stadium.

“I thought once (the change was made) it started to look a lot more stable. Chris as a natural centre back, his feel for reading things and recognizing things, his athleticism, all those things help us. And also it helps us to have Michael in front because he funnels us to better areas,” Vanney said.

RED CARD DRAMA

Giovinco needs to be smarter than to get baited into a silly exchange like the one that got him booted with a straight red card. Whatever you think about the decision — and the Reds were thoroughly confused why far worse against them went uncalled in a recent match — any contact to an opponent’s face, even Giovinco’s ‘what the hell are you doing?’ tap to Wilfried Zahibo — is asking for trouble.

Giovinco asked reporters what they thought and demonstrated how Zahibo grabbed at his arm to get the ball away and clearly didn’t think he deserved the red card.

Bradley said the call was right, but he wished referees were allowed to “referee the game and have a feel for the moment and the passion that goes into the game.”

“There’s no animosity in what he’s doing, there’s no endangerment of the other player at that point. Seba’s running back with the ball, the guy tries to swat it out of his hand, Seba’s frustrated because there’s been a few plays before that where he hasn’t gotten the call and he puts his hand up to the guy’s face,” Bradley explained.

Vanney said his challenge was that the rule varies from week-to-week.

“Last week we had a player who caught, basically a punch to the chin and it, I’m not going to say it was intentional, but a hands to the face is hands to the face, I think. And one week it goes one way and another it goes the other,” Vanney said.

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